Consumers not open to electric cars

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A study from the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs casts doubt on the Obama administration's goal of putting a million plug-in electric vehicles on the roads by 2015. But the study does find that consumers are more receptive to buying electric cars in some cities, including San Jose/San Francisco, Chicago and Boston.

The researchers surveyed more than 2,300 adult drivers in 21 large U.S. cities in the fall of 2011. They found that the perceived drawbacks of electric vehicles outweigh the advantages for most consumers. The primary drawbacks are the limited driving range, the vehicles' high sales or lease price and the inconvenience of recharging batteries.

Not surprised the things are to expensive right now. My friend went with some electric car and one of the batteries had a mishap and it nearly cost him 3k to get it replaced and fixed. If the price dropped enough and the range improved all be all for it but electric cars aren't really all the feasible where I live. Too much hassle and half the time if I went to the city, I wouldn't actually make it home.

Kind of fond of hybrids though but it just isn't worth the cost to change to a hybrid then go to an electric car when they do actually work.

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libstaK 6,399

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Not surprised the things are to expensive right now. My friend went with some electric car and one of the batteries had a mishap and it nearly cost him 3k to get it replaced and fixed. If the price dropped enough and the range improved all be all for it but electric cars aren't really all the feasible where I live. Too much hassle and half the time if I went to the city, I wouldn't actually make it home.

Kind of fond of hybrids though but it just isn't worth the cost to change to a hybrid then go to an electric car when they do actually work.

Exactly, when they make electric/solar hybrids it would probably turn the tide too - but where's the kick back in getting power directly from the sun eh?

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Doug1o29 3,322

When the savings on gasoline in a five-year period are sufficient to cover the difference between an electric and a gas-powered vehicle, consumers will start buying them. As the price tag on electrics comes down, it will meet the price of gas going up. That's when sales will pick up.

Of course, range is another consideration. I need a car that can make the round trip to Wichita (265 miles) without a recharge. When those two conditions are met, I'll buy an electric. It's just a matter of dollars and utility.

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little_dreamer 915

Yes, cost is a factor. Purely electric cars don't have the driving range of a regular car.

Best option around here (outside the city) is to use an electric moped or bicycle with an electric motor and hope someone doesn't hit you with their car. This would be for errands and short trips near home. Then use a regular car for everything else.

Edited January 8, 2013 by little_dreamer

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Br Cornelius 5,908

There needs to be light commutor electric vehicles to do the short runs which dominate our days. At the moment - with batteries at the state of development they are at - running a car equivilant to a conventional fossil fuel car is not yet a going concern for most people. Buckminster Fuller did some interesting development work on light fast vehicles which would seem very appropriate to modern electric car needs.

I have seriously considered buying a golf cart and replacing the wheels with motobike wheels to increase the speed and range. If I could lay my hands on a sewcond hand Golf cart for a few grand it could pay for itself in less than a year.

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little_dreamer 915

Some cities and suburbs in the U.S. do allow golf carts on sidewalks. I've seen people take them to the post office or grocery store in an area with a low speed limit. I've driven a golf cart once or twice. It's easy to drive if you know what you are doing.

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freetoroam 22,150

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If we all had electric cars in the UK, does anyone know how much the government would make? at the moment they are doing very well on the fuel tax, wonder how they could make that money on the electric cars.

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libstaK 6,399

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You know this kind of reminds me of when Starbucks left Aust. Their reasoning was "Australian Consumers are clearly not coffee connoisseurs". Actually, I thought at the time, NO, Australian Consumers know when they are paying twice as much for a cuppa as their USA counterparts and don't like being ripped off .

The reasoning that consumers haven't taken to electric cars takes no consideration of how expensive they are or their parts (as has been mentioned). Instead of the marketers realising that we actually have a clue how much a battery should cost based on what it is made of and how much it costs to manufacture (seriously not enough to justify their claimed "costs") they choose to decide we don't like the technology - go figure .

Edited January 9, 2013 by libstaK

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Br Cornelius 5,908

Electric cars are intrinsically more reliable with less moving parts. They break the Car manufacturing business model which makes a significant portion of its overall profits from aftercare services such as oil changes and official parts. This is all but gone with Electric cars and so the manufacturer is forced to front load the profitability into the initial purchase. Coupled to this is the fact that many car manufacturers are heavily invested into petrochemicals which is another area of profit which is unavailable to the manufacturer.

Hi-Tech batteries are resource hungry of rare precisious minerals and so will remain relatively expensive. Coupled to this is the fact that if a user doesn't understand their requirements they can shorten their battery life by many years. In many senses Battery leasing is the only sensible model for electric cars - but the current market means that the lease arrangments make running an electric car as expensive as putting the equivilent amount of petrol in the tank. Again this is another way of the manufacturers attempting to retain the diminished after sales profitability which they have lost by going electric. It will take an agressive competitive new entrant to the battery market to break this strangle hold which the car manufacturers will attempt to place onto their new customer base.

Br Cornelius

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AsteroidX 2,108

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My dentist told me she may turn her electric car in because the remote control doesnt let you turn on the heater without unplugging it first. She said the whole point of having the remote was so she could turn the heater on from inside. But instead she has to go outdside to unplug it first defeating the whole purpose.

So shes talking about turning it in if the car doesnt fix itself.

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little_dreamer 915

You know this kind of reminds me of when Starbucks left Aust. Their reasoning was "Australian Consumers are clearly not coffee connoisseurs". Actually, I thought at the time, NO, Australian Consumers know when they are paying twice as much for a cuppa as their USA counterparts and don't like being ripped off .

Starbucks is mediocre and not great. I'm mostly interested in their wireless internet at the store. I brew 99% of my coffee at home anyway.

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libstaK 6,399

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skookum 1,531

Not surprised the things are to expensive right now. My friend went with some electric car and one of the batteries had a mishap and it nearly cost him 3k to get it replaced and fixed. If the price dropped enough and the range improved all be all for it but electric cars aren't really all the feasible where I live. Too much hassle and half the time if I went to the city, I wouldn't actually make it home.

Kind of fond of hybrids though but it just isn't worth the cost to change to a hybrid then go to an electric car when they do actually work.

3k is a bargain.The Nissan Leaf which is currently in production in the UK batteries are an estimated 7k to replace, although Nissan will only give an estimated cost. The lifespan of them depends very much of how they are charged. At very best the lifespan (assuming you trickle charge them only) can be between 6-10 years. If they are fast charged like what is going to be offered at the Dealership the battery life will drop by about half.

They use Li-ion (Lithium ion) batteries which are also quite sensitive to temperature when charging. I work with these a fair bit now and have be warned it is not safe to charge them if the ambient temperature is under 0 degrees C. A full charge will take 13 hours, with a claim of 109 miles range. Unfortunately that is just cruising and some tests have had it as low as 47 miles in heavy traffic.

The idea is good and the Leaf is a very good car but I couldn't part with £30k for something with very limited capability, be a complete an utter nightmare if I fancied going further than its battery range and will cost me probably half its value to maintain in about 5 years.

Edited January 13, 2013 by skookum

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DKO 1,252

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sam12six 257

If any company with deep enough pockets wants to do so, here's how they can take over the auto market a city at a time:

1) Manufacture an electric car with easily switched batteries.

2) Establish "fuel stations" around the target city that allow those signed into the program to instantly switch to fully fueled batteries.

3) Profit.

As they take over adjascent areas, the usefulness would increase because you'd then be able to drive to the limit of the battery and head to a fuel station in another area.

Until someone does something like this (or batteries massively improve), nobody but people with a ton of money will want to spend double on a car that only goes half the distance per fueling and for which fueling takes half a day as opposed to a couple of minutes.

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sam12six 257

Better public transport and local small commuter vehicles - that's the answer.

Br Cornelius

It's definitely the answer in heavily populated areas.

Where I live, it's not unusual for someone to commute an hour or more one way via car. Traveling 60+ miles twice a day on public transport would take forever. Some thought needs to be put into more efficient private vehicles along with an improved public transport system.

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Br Cornelius 5,908

Where I live, it's not unusual for someone to commute an hour or more one way via car. Traveling 60+ miles twice a day on public transport would take forever. Some thought needs to be put into more efficient private vehicles along with an improved public transport system.

The much criticized Agenda 21 is all about intelligent planning such that people can work within easy reach of work and such that they can readily do so using public transport. It is a blueprint for sustainable local communities which will not implode once oil gets unaffordable. Suburbia is a ticking time bomb just waiting to plunge millions of people into poverty.